Supermarket Morrisons sued by staff over personal data leak

Thousands of Morrisons staff are suing the company after their personal details were posted on the internet. The High Court action is seeking to make the supermarket chain liable after a member of staff stole the data of nearly 100,000 employees in 2014. The workers are claiming compensation for the "Upset and distress" caused but Morrisons denies liability. Jonathan Barnes, counsel for 5,518 former and current Morrisons employees, told Mr Justice Langstaff in London the company had already been awarded £170,000 compensation against Skelton. The employees claim the leak exposed them to the risk of identity theft and potential financial loss and Morrisons is responsible for breaches of privacy, confidence and data protection laws.